Oudewater en omtrek, Geologisch, Mythologisch en Geschiedkundig Geschetst

Zijll, Willem Cornelis van, 1834-1865Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.8
Word count
27K words
Chapters
3

Tags

Foreign Language Books Historical Geography Human GeographyHistorical ReappraisalGeological SurveyIllustrated GuideAcademic StudyEclectic ReadingLocal GazetteerFolk CustomsFolk LegendCross-Cultural View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Oudewater en omtrek, Geologisch, Mythologisch en Geschiedkundig Geschetst by ZijllAuthor: Zijll, Willem Cornelis van, 1834-1865,Language: Dutch, Class: DJ: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Netherlands, Release Date: Apr 13, 2018

Editor's review

This is a comprehensive local history of the Dutch town of Oudewater and its surroundings, sketching the place from three angles: geology, myth and legend, and historical development. Its value lies in setting natural landforms, folk narratives and local history side by side, letting readers see how a small town was shaped by geological conditions and then layered over by legend and memory. For readers studying Dutch local history, folklore or regional geography, this kind of nineteenth-century local history is rare primary material; for general readers it is more a window into small-town life in the Low Countries, though one must accept that it was written long ago and in a fairly traditional narrative manner. The original is in Dutch, so the main barrier to reading is language rather than length. It is best used as a reference work, consulted by topic rather than read straight through.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the geological, mythological and historical sections separately, starting with the one that interests you most.
  2. Keep a map and a local history timeline at hand while reading, and note the place names and events mentioned.
  3. Excerpt the legends section on its own and compare it with later folklore records to observe how the narratives changed.
  4. If Dutch is difficult, first read the introduction and conclusion closely with a dictionary, then move on to selected chapters.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

FAQ

What level of language proficiency is needed to read this book? The original is in Dutch and dates from the nineteenth century, so some spellings and expressions carry the marks of their time. Readers with intermediate Dutch can work through it with a dictionary; beginners are better off first getting an overview of the content from related scholarship or a translation.
Is it suitable for use as a travel guide? No. It is a nineteenth-century local history focused on geology, legends and historical development, not on transport, accommodation or visitor services. It can be a supplementary read for understanding local culture before a trip, but it cannot replace a modern travel guide.
Does the content still have reference value today? It retains value as a historical document, especially for the evolution of place names, records of folk legends and early geological observations; but specific data and scholarly views should be checked against current research and not quoted directly as established conclusions.

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About the author

Zijll, Willem Cornelis van, 1834-1865 Author

Willem Cornelis van Zijll (1834–1865) was a nineteenth-century Dutch author of local history and descriptive topography. Although his birth and death years are known, public information about his education, profession and life is very limited. Only one work by him survives: Oudewater en omtrek, Geologisch, Mythologisch en Geschiedkundig Geschetst, a comprehensive sketch of the small Dutch town of Oudewater and its surroundings, treated from three angles—geology, myth and legend, and history. This juxtaposition of physical geography, folk belief and local history reflects the broad antiquarian curiosity typical of nineteenth-century Dutch local studies: it attends to strata and landforms, collects legends and anecdotes, and traces the town's development. The book therefore stands as a local documentary source for the old character of the Oudewater area and is of reference value for later study of the region's historical memory and folk traditions.